Neutrophil To Lymphocyte Ratio In Under-Five Children With Severe Acute Malnutrition

Burden of under-nutrition among under-five children in India is still high.Early detection and management of children at high risk can help in improved outcome. Newer hematological indices/ratios are emerging as markers of inflammation/infection such as Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) representing both innate as well as adaptive immunity of body through neutrophils and lymphocytes, respectively. NLR has been evaluated in diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, bacterial / viral pneumonias, febrile seizures, acute appendicitis, asthma, pediatric inflammatory bowel disease, and as predictor of outcome in pediatric intensive care units. In various studies it has been found that  higher NLR values were associated with poor outcome.Limited literature is available about the status of NLR in children with severe acute malnutrition.We planned this study to find association between hematological indices and the outcome in children with SAM and for this we will include NLR as our primary marker during this study.